2019 in spaceflight

2019 in spaceflight

Highlights from spaceflight in 2019[a]
Orbital launches
First	10 January
Last	27 December
Total	102
Successes	97
Failures	5
Catalogued	97
National firsts
Spaceflight	Croatia (first payload)
Satellite	Ethiopia  Nepal  Sri Lanka  Rwanda  Sudan
Space traveller	United Arab Emirates
Rockets
Maiden flights	Atlas V N22 Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 OneSpace OS-M1 PSLV-DL PSLV-QL Antares 230+
Retirements	Antares 230 Delta IV M+(5,4) Delta IV M+(4,2) Rokot Safir Soyuz-FG
Crewed flights
Orbital	3
Suborbital	1 (private)
Total travellers	12 (3 suborbital)
EVAs	11
v t e

This article documents notable spaceflight events during the year 2019.

The Russian-German X-ray observing satellite Spektr-RG was launched on 13 July.

The Chinese probe Chang'e 4 made humanity's first soft landing on the far side of the Moon on 3 January and released its Yutu 2 rover to explore the lunar surface on the far side for the first time in human history.

The first panorama from the far side of the Moon, captured by Chang'e 4 lander

Israel's SpaceIL, one of the participants in the expired Google Lunar X Prize,^[1] launched the first private mission to the Moon in February. The Beresheet lander from SpaceIL made the landing attempt in April, but crashed onto the Moon.^[2] India launched the delayed Chandrayaan-2 lunar orbiter/lander/rover in July; the orbiter reached lunar orbit in September, but the Vikram lander crashed onto the lunar surface.^[3]

The probe New Horizons encountered the Kuiper belt object 486958 Arrokoth on 1 January. This is the farthest object from the Sun ever to have a close encounter with a spacecraft.^[4] The Japanese asteroid exploration mission Hayabusa2 made a second touchdown with 162173 Ryugu to collect samples,^[5] and departed for Earth on 12 November.^[6] NASA declared the Mars rover Opportunity's mission over on 13 February.^[7] The InSight lander observed the first recorded Marsquake in April.^[8]

The first Commercial Crew Development test missions flew this year, aiming to restore United States human spaceflight capability following Space Shuttle retirement in 2011. In an uncrewed test flight, SpaceX SpaceX Dragon 2 successfully flew on a Falcon 9 to the International Space Station on 3 March 2019; the crewed mission was delayed when the recovered capsule exploded during testing on 20 April.^[9] Boeing's CST-100 Starliner launched a similar uncrewed test flight on an Atlas V on 20 December, but an anomaly during launch meant that it could not reach the ISS and had to land only 2 days later.^[10]

At the beginning of the year, around 100 small satellite launchers were in active use, in development, or were recently cancelled or stalled.^[11] Three Chinese manufacturers launched their first orbital rocket in 2019: The maiden flight of OS-M1 in March failed to reach orbit,^[12] the maiden flights of Hyperbola-1 in July^[13] and of Jielong 1 in August^[14] were successful. The PSLV-DL and PSLV-QL variants of the Indian PSLV first flew in January and April respectively.

SpaceX began testing of the SpaceX Starship in 2019, with an uncrewed prototype "Starhopper" flying 150m in the air in a suborbital test flight on 27 August.^[15] The heavy-lift Long March 5 made its return to flight in December, more than two years after the July 2017 launch failure that grounded the vehicle and forced an engine redesign.^[16]

The "single stick" Delta IV was retired in August,^[17] and the analog-controlled Soyuz-FG was retired in September.^[18] Due to Ukraine banning control system exports to Russia, Rokot was retired after a final flight in December.^[19]

Date and time (UTC)	Rocket		Flight number	Launch site		LSP
		Payload (⚀ = CubeSat)	Operator	Orbit	Function	Decay (UTC)	Outcome
		Remarks
January [edit]
10 January 17:05[20]	Long March 3B/E		3B-Y56[21]	Xichang LC-2		CASC
		Chinasat 2D	CNSA	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
11 January 15:31[22]	Falcon 9 Block 5		F9-067	Vandenberg SLC-4E		SpaceX
		Iridium NEXT 66–75	Iridium	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational
15 January[23][24]	Simorgh			Semnan LP-2		ISA
		Payam-e Amirkabir / AUTSAT 1[25]	Amirkabir University of Technology	Low Earth	Earth observation	15 January	Launch failure
		Third stage malfunctioned, satellite failed to reach orbit.[23]
18 January 00:50:20[26]	Epsilon		Epsilon-4[27]	Uchinoura		JAXA
		RAPIS-1	JAXA	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Successful
		ALE-1 / ALE-DOM	Astro Live Experiences	Low Earth (SSO)	Artificial meteor shower	ALE-1: In orbit[28] ALE-DOM: 3 August 2022[29]	Payload failure[30]
		Hodoyoshi-2 (RISESAT)	Tohoku University	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	14 March 2023[31]	Successful
		MicroDragon[32]	VNSC	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	1 October 2024[33]	Operational
		⚀ / AOBA-VELOX 4	Nanyang Technological University, Kyutech	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	24 March 2023[34]	Successful
		⚀ NEXUS	Nihon University	Low Earth (SSO)	Amateur radio	9 November 2023[35]	Successful
		⚀ OrigamiSat-1	Tokyo Institute of Technology	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	30 April 2022[36]	Successful
		Launch of the Innovative Satellite Technology Demonstration-1 mission.
19 January 19:05[37]	Delta IV Heavy		D-382	Vandenberg SLC-6		ULA
		KH-11 17 (USA-290)	NRO	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Operational
		NROL-71 mission.
21 January 05:42[38]	Long March 11		Y6[39]	Jiuquan LS-95A		CASC
		Jilin-1 Hyperspectral-01 (Jilin Lincao 1)[40]	Chang Guang Satellite Technology	Low Earth	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		Jilin-1 Hyperspectral-02 (Wenchang Chaosun 1)	Chang Guang Satellite Technology	Low Earth	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ Xiaoxiang 1-03[41]	Tianyi Research Institute	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	14 June 2022[42]	Successful
		⚀ Lingque 1A[43]	Beijing ZeroG Technology	Low Earth	Earth observation	14 June 2022[44]	Successful
24 January 18:07[45]	PSLV-DL		C44[46]	Satish Dhawan FLP		ISRO
		Microsat-R	DRDO	Low Earth	Earth observation ASAT target	27 March	Destroyed[47]
		⚀ Kalamsat[46]	Space Kidz India[49]	Low Earth	HAM Radio[49]	22 December 2023[48]	Successful
		Maiden flight of PSLV-DL. Microsat-R served as target for Indian ASAT experiment on 27 March 2019.
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → February [edit]
5 February[50][51]	Safir-1B[52]			Semnan LP-1		ISA
		Dousti	Sharif University of Technology	Low Earth	Communications, Remote sensing	5 February	Launch failure[53][54]
5 February 21:01[55]	Ariane 5 ECA		VA247	Kourou ELA-3		Arianespace
		Hellas Sat 4 / SaudiGeoSat-1	Hellas-Sat / ArabSat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		GSAT-31[56]	ISRO	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
21 February 16:47[57]	Soyuz-2.1b / Fregat-M			Baikonur Site 31/6		Roscosmos
		EgyptSat A	NARSS	Low Earth	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		Third stage anomaly but achieved orbit in contingency mode
22 February 01:45[59]	Falcon 9 Block 5		F9-068	Cape Canaveral SLC-40		SpaceX
		Nusantara Satu	PSN	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Beresheet[60][61]	SpaceIL	Moon transfer	Lunar lander	11 April	Landing failure
		S5[62]	AFRL	Geosynchronous	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		Beresheet raised its orbit towards the Moon from a supersynchronous transfer orbit with 60,000 km apogee.[58]
27 February 21:37[63]	Soyuz ST-B / Fregat-M		VS21	Kourou ELS		Arianespace
		OneWeb × 6	OneWeb	Low Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational[64]
		First flight for OneWeb satellite constellation. Kourou flight 1.
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → March [edit]
2 March 07:49:03[65]	Falcon 9 Block 5		F9-069	Kennedy LC-39A		SpaceX
		SpX-DM1	SpaceX / NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	Flight test / ISS logistics	8 March	Successful
		Crew Dragon Demo 1: Test of the SpaceX Dragon 2 as part of Commercial Crew Development program.
9 March 17:28[67]	Long March 3B/E		3B-Y54[21]	Xichang LC-2		CASC
		Chinasat 6C (Zhongxing 6C)[68]	China Satcom	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		300th launch of the Long March rocket family.[66]
14 March 19:14:09[69]	Soyuz-FG			Baikonur Site 1/5		Roscosmos
		Soyuz MS-12 / 58S	Roscosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	Expedition 59/60	3 October 10:59	Successful
		Crewed flight with three cosmonauts.
16 March 00:26[71]	Delta IV M+(5,4)		D-383	Cape Canaveral SLC-37B		ULA
		WGS-10 (USA-291)	U.S. Air Force	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Last flight of Delta IV M+ (5,4) variant[70]
22 March 01:50:35[72]	Vega		VV14	Kourou ELV		Arianespace
		PRISMA	Italian Space Agency	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		600th satellite orbited by Arianespace[72]
27 March 09:39[73]	OS-M1			Jiuquan LS-95B		OneSpace
		Lingque 1B	Beijing ZeroG Technology	Low Earth	Earth observation	27 March	Launch failure
		Maiden flight of OS-M1 rocket.
28 March 23:27[74]	Electron		"Two Thumbs Up"	Mahia LC-1A		Rocket Lab
		R3D2[75]	DARPA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	23 May 2021 10:00[76]	Successful
31 March 15:50[77]	Long March 3B/E		3B-Y44[78]	Xichang LC-2		CASC
		Tianlian 2-01	CNSA	Geosynchronous	Communications (tracking and relay)	In orbit	Operational
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → April [edit]
1 April 03:57[79]	PSLV-QL		C45[46]	Satish Dhawan SLP		ISRO
		EMISAT	ISRO	Low Earth	ELINT[80]	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ Aistechsat-3	GomSpace	Low Earth	Communications, Traffic monitoring	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ Astrocast 0.2	Astrocast SA	Low Earth	Communications	19 November 2023[81]	Successful
		⚀ BlueWalker 1[82]	AST & Science	Low Earth	Test flight	29 November 2023[83]	Successful
		⚀ Flock-4a × 20[84]	Planet Labs	Low Earth	Earth observation	First: 14 March 2023[85] Last: 8 August 2023[86]	Successful
		⚀ Lemur-2 × 4	Spire Global	Low Earth	Earth observation	First: 7 March 2023[87] Last: 30 June 2023[88]	Successful
		⚀ M6P	SpaceWorks Orbital / Lacuna Space	Low Earth	Communications	20 July 2023[89]	Successful
		Maiden flight of PSLV-QL
4 April 11:01:35[90]	Soyuz-2.1a			Baikonur Site 31/6		Roscosmos
		Progress MS-11 / 72P	Roscosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS logistics	29 July	Successful
4 April 17:03[91]	Soyuz ST-B / Fregat-MT		VS22	Kourou ELS		Arianespace
		O3b × 4 (FM17–FM20)	SES S.A.	Medium Earth	Communications	In orbit	Operational
11 April 22:35[92]	Falcon Heavy		FH-002	Kennedy LC-39A		SpaceX
		Arabsat-6A[93]	ArabSat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
17 April 20:46[99]	Antares 230			MARS LP-0A		Northrop Grumman
		Cygnus NG-11 S.S. Roger Chaffee	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS logistics	6 December	Successful
		⚀ AeroCube-10 × 2	The Aerospace Corporation	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	10A: 4 May 2023[100] 10B: 15 May 2023[101]	Successful
		⚀ EntrySat	ISAE-SUPAERO / ONERA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	10 August 2021[102]	Successful
		⚀ IOD-1 GEMS[103]	Orbital Micro Systems	Low Earth	Technology demonstration / Meteorology	3 April 2021 14:11[104]	Successful
		⚀ KRAKsat	AGH University of Science and Technology / Jagiellonian University	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	17 January 2022[105]	Spacecraft failure[106]
		⚀ NepaliSat-1	KyuTech / NAST	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	4 October 2021[107]	Successful
		⚀ Quantum-Radar 3[108]	SEOPS	Low Earth	Satellite laser ranging	7 March 2023[109]	Successful
		⚀ Raavana 1	ACCIMT	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	3 October 2021[110]	Successful
		⚀ SASSI2	University of Illinois / Purdue University	Low Earth	Technology demonstration / Education	28 April[111]	Spacecraft failure[112]
		⚀ Seeker	NASA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Successful
		⚀ SpooQy-1	NUS / SSTA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	16 October 2021[113]	Successful[114]
		⚀ Swiatowid	SatRevolution	Low Earth	Technology demonstration / Earth observation	14 March 2021[115]	Successful
		⚀ ThinSat × 60	Virginia Space	Low Earth	Technology demonstration / Education	28 April[111]	Successful (49/60 ThinSats)[116]
		⚀ Uguisu	KyuTech	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	7 October 2021[117]	Successful
		⚀ VCC A (Aeternitas)	Virginia Space Grant Consortium	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	18 October 2021[118]	Spacecraft failure
		⚀ VCC B (Libertas)	Virginia Space Grant Consortium	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	13 October 2021[119]	Spacecraft failure
		⚀ VCC C (Ceres)	Virginia Space Grant Consortium	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	15 May 2021[120]	Spacecraft failure
		SASSI2 and the 60 ThinSats were secondary payloads carried aboard the Antares upper stage booster.[94] EntrySat, IOD-1, KRAKsat, Swiatowid, Virginia CubeSat Constellation (VCC), Uguisu, Raavana 1, NepaliSat-1, and SpooQy-1 were carried in Cygnus and later deployed from the ISS. The AeroCubes and Seeker were carried in the unpressurized compartment of Cygnus, and deployed from Cygnus after its departure from the ISS. Uguisu, Raavana 1, NepaliSat-1, and SpooQy-1 were deployed into orbit from the ISS on 17 June 2019. IOD-1 GEMS, KRAKsat, Swiatowid, EntrySat, and three VCC satellites were deployed into orbit on 3 July 2019. NepaliSat-1 is the first Nepalese satellite and Raavana 1 is the first Sri Lankan satellite. On the departure of Cygnus NG-11 from the ISS, SlingShot Deployer—carrying Quantum Radar, NARSSCube-2, RFTSat, and ORCA—was placed on its hatch bulkhead.[95] Those CubeSats and also AeroCube-10 were deployed into orbit from Cygnus on 7 August 2019.[96] The VCC satellites were unresponsive to attempts to contact them following their deployment.[97][98]
20 April 14:41[121]	Long March 3B/E		3B-Y59[21]	Xichang LC-3		CASC
		BeiDou-3 I1Q (Beidou-44)	CNSA	IGSO	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
29 April 22:52[122]	Long March 4B		4B-Y36[123]	Taiyuan LC-9		CASC
		Tianhui 2-01A	CNSA	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		Tianhui 2-01B	CNSA	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → May [edit]
4 May 06:48[125]	Falcon 9 Block 5		F9-070	Cape Canaveral SLC-40		SpaceX
		SpaceX CRS-17	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS logistics	3 June	Successful
		Red-Eye 1 (Pinot)[126]	DARPA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	24 July 2022[127]	Successful
		Red-Eye 1 was carried in CRS-17, and deployed into orbit from the ISS on 27 June 2019.[124]
5 May 06:00[128]	Electron		"That's a Funny Looking Cactus"	Mahia LC-1A		Rocket Lab
		Harbinger (ICEYE X3)	U.S. Air Force	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ Falcon ODE	U.S. Air Force	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ SPARC-1	U.S. Air Force	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	26 June 2023[129]	Successful
17 May 15:48[130]	Long March 3C/E		3C-Y16[21]	Xichang LC-2		CASC
		BeiDou-2 G8 (Beidou-45)	CNSA	Geosynchronous	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
22 May 00:00[131]	PSLV-CA		C46[46]	Satish Dhawan FLP		ISRO
		RISAT-2B	ISRO	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation (radar)	In orbit	Operational
22 May 22:49[132]	Long March 4C		4C-Y23[133]	Taiyuan LC-9		CASC
		Yaogan 33	CAS	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	22 May	Launch failure
24 May 02:30[134]	Falcon 9 Block 5		F9-071	Cape Canaveral SLC-40		SpaceX
		Starlink × 60	SpaceX	Low Earth	Communications	First: 20 February 2020 Last: 24 October 2022[135]	Successful
		Starlink test mission, launching 60 Starlink v0.9 experimental satellites.
27 May 06:23[136]	Soyuz-2.1b / Fregat-M			Plesetsk Site 43/4		RVSN RF
		GLONASS-M 758	VKS	Medium Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
30 May 17:42[137]	Proton-M / Briz-M P4			Baikonur Site 200/39		Roscosmos
		Yamal-601	Gazprom Space Systems	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → June [edit]
5 June 04:06[138]	Long March 11H			Yellow Sea Launch Platform[139]		CASC
		Bufeng-1A	CAST	Low Earth	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		Bufeng-1B	CAST	Low Earth	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		Jilin-1 Gaofen-03A	Chang Guang Satellite Technology	Low Earth	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		Tianxiang-1A	CETC	Low Earth	Technology demonstration Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Tianxiang-1B	CETC	Low Earth	Technology demonstration Communications	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ Tianqi-3 (Tao Xingzhi)[140]	Guodian Gaoke	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ Xiaoxiang 1-04	Tianyi Research Institute	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		China's first sea launch in the Yellow Sea off Shandong.
12 June 14:17[141]	Falcon 9 Block 5		F9-072	Vandenberg SLC-4E		SpaceX
		RADARSAT Constellation × 3[142][143]	Canadian Space Agency	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
20 June 21:43[144]	Ariane 5 ECA		VA248	Kourou ELA-3		Arianespace
		Eutelsat 7C[145]	Eutelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		AT&T T-16	DirecTV	Geosynchronous	Satellite television	In orbit	Operational
24 June 18:09[146]	Long March 3B/E		3B-Y60[21]	Xichang LC-3		CASC
		BeiDou-3 I2Q (Beidou-46)[147]	CNSA	IGSO	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
25 June 06:30[148]	Falcon Heavy		FH-003	Kennedy LC-39A		SpaceX
		STP-2	U.S. Air Force	Low Earth, Medium Earth[149]	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		DSX	AFRL	Medium Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Successful[150]
		COSMIC-2 × 6	NOAA / NSPO	Low Earth	Atmospheric	In orbit	Operational
		GPIM	NASA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	14 October 2020[151]	Successful
		NPSAT1	NRL	Low Earth	Atmospheric	In orbit	Operational
		Oculus-ASR	Michigan Technological University	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	23 February 2023[152]	Successful
		OTB	General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		Prox-1	Georgia Institute of Technology	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ ARMADILLO	UT Austin	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	23 August 2022[153]	Successful
		⚀ BRICSat-2	United States Naval Academy	Low Earth	Technology demonstration / Amateur radio	20 April 2022[154]	Successful[155][156]
		⚀ E-TBEx A	NASA	Low Earth	Atmospheric	9 March 2021[157]	Successful
		⚀ E-TBEx B	NASA	Low Earth	Atmospheric	22 February 2021[158]	Successful
		⚀ FalconSAT-7	USAFA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	2 July 2021[159]	Spacecraft failure[160]
		⚀ LEO	Cal Poly	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	28 October 2021[161]	Successful
		⚀ LightSail 2	The Planetary Society	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	17 November 2022[162]	Successful
		⚀ PSAT2	United States Naval Academy	Low Earth	Amateur radio	15 February 2023[163]	Successful
		⚀ StangSat	Merritt Island High School	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ TEPCE × 2	NRL	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	1 February 2020[164]	Successful
		STP-2 carries multiple cubesats and other small payloads for NASA, NOAA, The Planetary Society and others in addition to the primary mission which consists of multiple U.S. Air Force payloads.
29 June 04:30[165]	Electron		"Make It Rain"	Mahia LC-1A		Rocket Lab
		BlackSky Global 3[166]	BlackSky Global	Low Earth	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ ACRUX-1	Melbourne Space Program	Low Earth	Education	17 June 2022[167]	Successful
		⚀ Painani 1[168]	SEDENA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	14 January 2023[169]	Successful
		⚀ Prometheus 2-7	USSOCOM	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	20 May 2022[170]	Successful
		⚀ Prometheus 2-9	USSOCOM	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	6 June 2022[171]	Successful
		⚀ SpaceBEE 8	Swarm Technologies	Low Earth	Communications	26 April 2021[172]	Successful
		⚀ SpaceBEE 9	Swarm Technologies	Low Earth	Communications	16 December 2021[173]	Successful
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → July [edit]
5 July 05:41[174]	Soyuz-2.1b / Fregat-M			Vostochny Site 1S		Roscosmos
		Meteor-M №2-2	Roscosmos	Low Earth (SSO)	Meteorology	In orbit	Operational[175]
		CarboNIX	Exolaunch	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		DoT-1	SSTL	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		ICEYE X4	ICEYE	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		ICEYE X5	ICEYE	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ AmurSat	Amur State University	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ BeeSat × 4 (10-13)	Technische Universität Berlin	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ BeeSat 9	Technische Universität Berlin	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ D-Star One EXOCONNECT	German Orbital Systems	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational[175]
		⚀ D-Star One LightSat	German Orbital Systems	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ El Camino Real[176]	Momentus Space	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Spacecraft failure[177]
		⚀ JAISAT 1	RAST	Low Earth (SSO)	Amateur radio	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ Lemur-2 × 8	Spire Global	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation SIGINT	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ Lucky-7	SkyFox Labs	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ MOVE-2b[178]	TUM	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational[175]
		⚀ MTCube (ROBUSTA 1C)	University of Montpellier	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ NSLSat 1	NSLComm	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ SEAM 2.0	KTH / AAC Clyde Space / GomSpace / Kayser Italia	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ SONATE	University of Würzburg	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ Sokrat	Moscow State University	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ TTÜ101	Tallinn University of Technology	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ UTE-Ecuador	Universidad Tecnológica Equinoccial	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ VDNH-80	Moscow State University / VDNKh	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
10 July 17:14[179][180][181]	Soyuz-2-1v / Volga			Plesetsk Site 43/4		RVSN RF
		Kosmos 2535	VKS	Low Earth	Satellite inspection	In orbit	Operational[182]
		Kosmos 2536	VKS	Low Earth	Satellite inspection	In orbit	Operational
		Kosmos 2537	VKS	Low Earth	Radar calibration	7 October 2023[183]	Successful
		Kosmos 2538	VKS	Low Earth	Radar calibration	In orbit	Operational
11 July 01:53:03[184]	Vega		VV15	Kourou ELV		Arianespace
		Falcon Eye 1 (fr)[186]	UAE Armed Forces	Low Earth	IMINT (Reconnaissance)	11 July	Launch failure
		Possibly an ignition failure of the second stage.[184] Later investigation findings showed the failure mostly traced into a structural failure on the second stage's forward dome resulting from higher temperatures.[185]
13 July 12:30:57[187]	Proton-M / DM-03			Baikonur Site 81/24		Roscosmos
		Spektr-RG[188]	IKI RAN Max Planck Institute	Sun–Earth L2, halo orbit	X-ray astronomy	In orbit	Operational[189]
		Russian–German high-energy astrophysics space observatory. Launching to L2.
20 July 16:28:20[191]	Soyuz-FG			Baikonur Site 1/5		Roscosmos
		Soyuz MS-13 / 59S	Roscosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	Expedition 60/61	6 February 2020	Successful
		Crewed flight with three cosmonauts.[190]
22 July 09:13[193]	GSLV Mk III		M1	Satish Dhawan SLP		ISRO
		Chandrayaan-2	ISRO	Selenocentric	Lunar orbiter	In orbit	Operational
		Vikram	ISRO	Selenocentric	Lunar lander	In orbit	Landing Failure
		Pragyan	ISRO	Selenocentric	Lunar rover	In orbit	Landing Failure
		Chandrayaan-2 Mission.The lander crashed on the lunar surface and broke into pieces during powered descent. The Orbiter remains operational.[192]
25 July 05:00[195]	Hyperbola-1			Jiuquan LS-95A		i-Space
		⚀ CAS-7B[196]	CAMSAT	Low Earth	Amateur radio	6 August[197]	Successful
		⚀ Demonstration payload[198]	CAMSAT	Low Earth	Technology demonstration, boilerplate	26 July[199]	Successful
		Maiden flight of Hyperbola-1.[13][194]
25 July 22:01:56[202]	Falcon 9 Block 5		F9-073	Cape Canaveral SLC-40		SpaceX
		SpaceX CRS-18	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS logistics	27 August	Successful
		⚀ RFTSat	Northwest Nazarene University	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ NARSSCube-2	NARSS	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ ORCA-1	DARPA	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		RFTSat, NARSSCube-2, and ORCA are carried in CRS-18 to ISS.[200][201] They were placed in SlingShot Deployer on Cygnus NG-11 hatch bulkhead.[95] They were deployed into orbit by SlingShot Deployer on 7 August 2019 after the departure of Cygnus NG-11 from the ISS. The upper stage has introduced a Grey Band on this mission.
26 July 03:57[205]	Long March 2C		2C-Y37[206]	Xichang LC-3[206]		CASC
		Yaogan 30-05 01	CAS	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Operational
		Yaogan 30-05 02	CAS	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Operational
		Yaogan 30-05 03	CAS	Low Earth	Reconnaissance	In orbit	Operational
		Grid fins located on the interstage of the rocket are being used to test first stage landing zone control and recovery technologies.[203][204]
30 July 05:56[207]	Soyuz-2.1a / Fregat-M			Plesetsk Site 43/4		RVSN RF
		Meridian 8 (18L)	VKS	Molniya	Communications (military)	In orbit	Operational
31 July 12:10:46[208]	Soyuz-2.1a			Baikonur Site 31/6		Roscosmos
		Progress MS-12 / 73P	Roscosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS logistics	29 November	Successful
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → August [edit]
5 August 21:56[209]	Proton-M / Briz-M			Baikonur Site 81/24		RVSN RF
		Blagovest-14L	VKS	Geosynchronous	Communications (military)	In orbit	Operational
		Fourth Blagovest satellite launch, completing the initial Blagovest satellite constellation.[209]
6 August 19:30[210]	Ariane 5 ECA		VA249	Kourou ELA-3		Arianespace
		EDRS-C[211] / HYLAS-3	ESA / Avanti	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		Intelsat 39	Intelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
6 August 23:23[212]	Falcon 9 Block 5		F9-074	Cape Canaveral SLC-40		SpaceX
		AMOS 17[213][214]	Spacecom	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		The launch was free of charge for Spacecom as compensation for AMOS-6's destruction on 1 September 2016. The booster, B1047, was expended.
8 August 10:13[215]	Atlas V 551		AV-084	Cape Canaveral SLC-41		ULA
		USA-292 (AEHF-5) [216]	U.S. Air Force	Geosynchronous	Communications (military)	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ TDO-1[215]	U.S. Air Force	Highly elliptical	Space debris tracking	30 December 2022[217]	Successful
17 August 04:11[14]	Jielong 1			Jiuquan LS-95A		CALT
		Tianqi-2[218]	Guodian Gaoke	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		Qian Sheng-1 01 (QS1-01)[218][219][220]	Qian Sheng Exploration	Low Earth	Earth observation, communications	In orbit	Operational
		Xingshidai-5[221]	ADASpace[222]	Low Earth	Remote sensing	In orbit	Operational
		Maiden flight of Jielong 1 (also known as Smart Dragon 1). First launch for the Qian Sheng satellite constellation.
19 August 12:03[225]	Long March 3B/E		3B-Y58[226]	Xichang LC-2		CASC
		Chinasat 18[227]	China Satcom	Intended: Geosynchronous Actual: GTO	Communications	In orbit	Spacecraft failure
		Spacecraft apparently failed to deploy solar panels after stage separation. It remains inoperable in geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).[223][224] The satellite has been declared as total loss by the Chinese government.
19 August 12:12[228]	Electron		"Look Ma, No Hands"[229]	Mahia LC-1A		Rocket Lab
		BlackSky Global 4	BlackSky Global	Low Earth	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ BRO 1[230]	UnseenLabs	Low Earth	ELINT	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ Pearl White × 2[231]	Air Force Space Command	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
22 August 03:38:31[235]	Soyuz-2.1a			Baikonur Site 31/6		Roscosmos
		Soyuz MS-14 / 60S	Roscosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	Test flight / ISS logistics	6 September 21:32[236]	Successful
		Uncrewed flight to certify Soyuz-2.1a for crew transport missions[232][233][234] with FEDOR (Skybot F-850) robot on board. First docking attempt on 24 August was aborted due to an issue on ISS, second attempt on 27 August was successful. Delivered Mini-EUSO telescope to ISS.
22 August 13:06[238]	Delta IV M+ (4,2)U		D-384	Cape Canaveral SLC-37B		ULA
		GPS IIIA-02 Magellan	U.S. Air Force	Medium Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
		Last flight of the Delta IV "single stick" M+ series (Delta IV Heavy will continue flying). Named after Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan.[237]
29 August (ground test)[241]	Safir-1B[242]			Semnan LP-1		ISA
		Nahid 1[243]	Iranian Space Research Center	Low Earth	Communications	N/A	Rocket destroyed prior to launch[240]
		Rocket apparently exploded on the launch pad.[239] According to the Iranian Ministry of ICT, the Nahid 1 satellite had yet to be delivered to the launch site.[240]
30 August 14:00[244]	Rokot / Briz-KM			Plesetsk Site 133/3		RVSN RF
		Geo-IK-2 No.3 (Musson-2)	VKS	Low Earth	Geodesy	In orbit	Operational
30 August 23:41[245]	Kuaizhou 1A		Y10[246]	Jiuquan LS-95A		ExPace
		Taiji-1 (KX-09)[247][248]	CAS	Low Earth (SSO)	Microgravity science Gravitational-wave astronomy	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ Xiaoxiang 1-07[245]	Tianyi Research Institute	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → September [edit]
12 September 03:26[249]	Long March 4B		4B-Y39[133]	Taiyuan LC-9		CASC
		Ziyuan I-02D	PLA	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		Ice Pathfinder (BNU-1)[250]	Beijing Normal University	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ Taurus 1 (Jinniuzuo-1)	Shanghai Aerospace Science and Technology	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
19 September 06:42[251]	Long March 11		Y8[39]	Jiuquan LS-95A		CASC
		Zhuhai-1 OHS 3A–3D[252]	Zhuhai Orbita Control Engineering	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		Zhuhai-1 OVS 3A[253]	Zhuhai Orbita Control Engineering	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
22 September 21:10[254]	Long March 3B / YZ-1		3B-Y65[21]	Xichang LC-2		CASC
		BeiDou-3 M23 (Beidou-47)[255]	CNSA	Medium Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
		BeiDou-3 M24 (Beidou-48)[255]	CNSA	Medium Earth	Navigation	In orbit	Operational
24 September 16:05[257]	H-IIB			Tanegashima LA-Y2		MHI
		HTV-8	JAXA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS logistics	3 November 02:09[258]	Successful
		⚀ NARSSCube-1	NARSS	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	20 December 2021[259]	Successful
		⚀ AQT-D	University of Tokyo	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	20 April 2022[260]	Successful
		⚀ RWASAT-1	Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	27 April 2022[261]	Successful
		The first launch attempt on 10 September, 21:33 UTC, was postponed due to a fire on the launch pad. NARSSCube-1, AQT-D, and RWASAT-1 were carried to ISS inside HTV-8 for later deployment into orbit from the ISS. RWASAT-1 was Rwanda's first satellite.[256] The satellites were deployed into orbit from the ISS on 20 November 2019.
25 September 00:54[263]	Long March 2D		2D-Y43[206]	Jiuquan SLS-2		CASC
		Yunhai-1 02	SAST	Low Earth (SSO)	Meteorology	In orbit	Spacecraft damaged; operational status uncertain
		Struck by a piece of space debris on 18 March 2021, eighteen months after launch. 37 associated pieces of debris have being tracked from the collision. The source of the debris was a piece of the Zenit-2 rocket that launched Tselina-2 in 1996. The satellite appears to have survived the encounter, though its operational status remains uncertain.[262]
25 September 13:57:43[264]	Soyuz-FG			Baikonur Site 1/5		Roscosmos
		Soyuz MS-15 / 61S	Roscosmos	Low Earth (ISS)	Expedition 61/62	17 April 2020 05:16	Successful
		Crewed flight with three cosmonauts. Last flight of Soyuz-FG and last launch from Baikonur Site 1 ("Gagarin's Start"); replaced by Soyuz-2.1a launching from Site 31 for crewed missions starting with Soyuz MS-16 in April 2020.
26 September 07:46[265]	Soyuz-2.1b / Fregat-M			Plesetsk Site 43/4		RVSN RF
		EKS-3 (Tundra 13L)[266]	VKS	Molniya	Early warning	In orbit	Operational
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → October [edit]
4 October 18:51[267]	Long March 4C		4C-Y33	Taiyuan LC-9		CASC
		Gaofen 10R	CAST	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		Replacement for the Gaofen 10 satellite lost on 31 August 2016.
9 October 10:17[270]	Proton-M / Briz-M P4			Baikonur Site 200/39		ILS
		Eutelsat 5 West B	Eutelsat	Geosynchronous	Communications	In orbit	Operational
		MEV-1	Northrop Grumman	Geosynchronous	Satellite servicing	In orbit	Operational
		MEV-1 successfully rendezvoused with Intelsat 901 on 25 February 2020.[268] MEV-1 will extend Intelsat 901's operational life by five years through in-orbit station-keeping.[269]
11 October 02:00[271]	Pegasus-XL		F44	Stargazer, CCAFS Skid Strip		Northrop Grumman
		ICON	NASA	Low Earth	Ionospheric research	In orbit	Operational
17 October 01:22[272]	Electron		"As The Crow Flies"[273]	Mahia LC-1A		Rocket Lab
		⚀ Palisade[274]	Astro Digital	Low Earth (Polar)	Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
17 October 15:21[275]	Long March 3B/E		3B-Y57	Xichang LC-3		CASC
		TJS-4	CNSA	Geosynchronous	Communications SIGINT	In orbit	Operational
← Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec → November [edit]
2 November 13:59:47[281]	Antares 230+			MARS LP-0A		Northrop Grumman
		Cygnus NG-12 S.S. Alan Bean	NASA	Low Earth (ISS)	ISS logistics	17 March 2020 23:00	Successful
		STPSat 4[282]	USAF STP	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	4 October 2022[283]	Successful
		⚀ AeroCube 14 (IMPACT) × 2[284]	NRO	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	14A: 4 February 2023[285] 14B: 8 February 2023[286]	Successful
		⚀ AeroCube 15 (Rogue) × 2[284]	U.S. Air Force	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	15A: 7 February 2023[287] 15B: 10 February 2023[288]	Successful
		⚀ Argus-02	Saint Louis University	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	6 May 2022[289]	Successful
		⚀ HARP[290]	UM	Low Earth	Technology demonstration Atmospheric research	4 April 2022[291]	Successful
		⚀ HuskySat-1	University of Washington	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	12 Apr 2023[292]	Successful
		⚀ Orbital Factory 2[293]	University of Texas	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	20 March 2023[294]	Successful
		⚀ Phoenix	Arizona State University	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	12 June 2022	Successful
		⚀ RadSat-u	Montana State University	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	30 April 2022[295]	Successful
		⚀ SOCRATES	University of Minnesota	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	2022	Successful
		⚀ SwampSat II	University of Florida	Low Earth	Technology demonstration	19 October 2021[296]	Successful
		First CRS-2 mission for Cygnus. The ELaNa 25A mission launched on this resupply flight.[276] STPSat-4 was deployed into orbit from ISS on 29 January 2020.[277] AeroCube 14 × 2, AeroCube 15 × 2, HuskySat-1, SwampSat-II, and Orbital Factory 2 were deployed into orbit from Cygnus NG-12 after it departed from the ISS.[278][279] RadSat-U, Phoenix, SOCRATES, HARP, and Argus-02 were deployed into orbit from the ISS on 19 February 2020.[280]
3 November 03:22:39[300][301]	Long March 4B		4B-Y38	Taiyuan LC-9		CASC
		Gaofen 7[302]	Ministry of Natural Resources	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation	In orbit	Operational
		Huangpu-1 (Jingzhi-1)[303]	SAST	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		Sudan Remote Sensing Satellite 1 (SRSS-1)	Sudan	Low Earth (SSO)	Earth observation Technology demonstration	In orbit	Operational
		⚀ Xiaoxiang 1-08 / Tianyi 15 / Dianfeng	Tianyi Research Institute	Low Earth (SSO)	Technology demonstration	25 April 2023[304]	Successful
		Xiaoxiang 1-08 carries the first propulsion system in space using solid iodine as propellant (cold gas thruster) developed by a French start-up.[297] Test of grid fins towards development of reusable boosters for Long March 8. SRSS-1, Sudan's first satellite developed and built by Chinese satellite manufacturer, Shenzhen Aerospace Oriental Red Sea Satellite Co., was launched as a rideshare on this mission.[298][299]
4 November 17:43[305]